1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention relates to aerosol space or room deodorants. In particular the invention relates to a d-Limonene containing aerosol space deodorant.
2. Prior Art
Naturally occurring terpenes are derived from citrus oils. The primary active ingredient in such oils limonene. D-Limonene is used in the prior art as an aerosol space or room deodorant. However, most common aerosol space deodorants contain over 50% by weight of propellant, alcohols, or isopariffinic hydrocarbons or even aliphatic hydrocarbons to form stable or unstable emulsions to effect adequate dispersions of active ingredients. In addition, other environmental questionable additives and propellants such as chlorofluoro hydrocarbons have been used. For example, German Patent No. 1,812,440 shows a limonene composition containing carbon tetrachloride and chlorofluorohydrocarbon propellant.
D-Limonene has been mixed with surfactants and other additives in order to form useful d-Limonene products. U.S. Pat. No. 4,533,487 discloses a d-Limonene containing product which has been formulated with an ionic and anionic surfactant, bicarbonate of soda and slaked lime to form a two phase product. The clear non-emulsified phase is used as a detergent or deodorant. Other emulsifiers have been used with d-Limonene such as polyglycerol oleate, sorbitan esters, or stearates. Typically the system HLB is 3.0 to 8.5. These products have been proven to be ineffective for use with terpenes and similar structured citrus derivatives such as d-Limonene. The attempted emulsions separate rapidly and lead to the possibility of can corrosion at the phase interface. Moreover, in such systems the amount of d-Limonene which can be emulsified is about 45% which results in a rather weak citrus odor.
Diluent or carrier solvents have been proposed to stabilize such systems. In these cases this is an addition of an artificial substance which can be a flammable or toxicological hazard or requires the addition of a strong chemical agent in order to obtain an effective product. The addition of further chemicals have been proposed to reduce the flammability problem. Thus, it has been proposed in the prior art that the problem of flammability encountered with an alcohol or flammable propellant can be reduced by adding methylene chloride or trichloroethane to the composition. See for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,134,968. However, the art still demonstrates a need for a non-flammable effective d-Limonene room deodorizer which does not contain unnecessarily hazardous propellants or solvents and maximize the amount of d-Limonene in the aerosol spray.